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Has anyone done any archival research? I ask because I am ramping up to get serious about writing my thesis in the next few months and have a few trips planned to visit archives here in Europe, specifically the Imperial Kriegsarchiv in Vienna and the German Militararchive in Freiburg am Breising as well as the German Defense Ministry's military history institute in Berlin. I am curious if anyone has any types on how t make archival research go more smoothly because I have never done more than cursory archival stuff.I have done some preliminary work by pulling stuff out of several books that I want to look at the same documents and see if I interpret them the same way. I want to make my trips as fruitful as possible because I am only going to get about 4 days in the two archives and only 2 or 3 at he military history institute.
Not sure if this is the proper definition of archival research or if it's even what you're talking about, but when I did my paper on King Philip's War, I went to the RI Historical Society archives and read some of the first edition books by Roger Williams, et. al.I know this isn't too helpful, but hey. ;D
This is what brought my thesis to a screeching halt. I need to hit the archives in South Carolina in order to complete my research. Inter-library loan is wonderful, but it doesn't do everything.
Well, I will be going to the Imperial Kriegsarchiv in Vienna in May and have already been in the contact with the archivists. I will let everybody know how it goes when I get back. I am actually excited to get some REAL primary source material in my hands. I am very curious to see if I will interpret the material the same as some other historians do.
Well, I will be going to the Imperial Kriegsarchiv in Vienna in May and have already been in the contact with the archivists. I will let everybody know how it goes when I get back. I am actually excited to get some REAL primary source material in my hands. I am very curious to see if I will interpret the material the same as some other historians do.
Hopefully you won't, otherwise, what's the point?
I spent this afternoon in the archives and Vienna. I must be a geek because I think it is so cool to actually have the original After-Action Reports in my hand, written by the very same generals I have read so much about. Talk about holding history in your hands. I found a contemporary mp the Austrians used to plan their defense with notations on where units actually were versus where they were supposed to be. That map alone makes me question some accounts of Koniggratz I have read. I will go back tomorrow and Thursday and will probably want to come back one more time before I finish my thesis. It is very interesting and fun, once again, I must be a geek if 150 year old papers are cool.
I spent this afternoon in the archives and Vienna. I must be a geek because I think it is so cool to actually have the original After-Action Reports in my hand, written by the very same generals I have read so much about. Talk about holding history in your hands. I found a contemporary mp the Austrians used to plan their defense with notations on where units actually were versus where they were supposed to be. That map alone makes me question some accounts of Koniggratz I have read. I will go back tomorrow and Thursday and will probably want to come back one more time before I finish my thesis. It is very interesting and fun, once again, I must be a geek if 150 year old papers are cool.
You've got the "bug" -- the one that bites you inside the Ivory Tower. LOL
No, I don't think I want inside the Ivory Tower. I want to write “popular” history with academic rigor and get rich from it. Ambrose and Co. have shown it is possible, I just wont plagiarize while I am at it. The best part is that if I am successful as a freelancer the only one I will have to argue topic with is my editor, not some smug academic committee. I have three more boxes to look through tomorrow so I will post an update tomorrow evening.One thing is for sure reading 150 y/o handwriting is hard, especially when it is a language different from your native tongue. My wife has promised to help me with my translations, which is good since she is a native German speaker and the font and text they used in the 1860s was horrible, If I get a scan I will post it. It is almost like code-breaking to read it.
Channel the spirit of von Ranke and you'll do fine. 🙂
That is exactly what I intend to do. I firmly believe that the facts can speak for themselves.
I will finish my archives visit tomorrow morning. It has been a very productive trip. I found a few items that bolster my thesis and exploded some claims made in another history of the battle I am writing about.
I will finish my archives visit tomorrow morning. It has been a very productive trip. I found a few items that bolster my thesis and exploded some claims made in another history of the battle I am writing about.
Outstanding!
I will finish my archives visit tomorrow morning. It has been a very productive trip. I found a few items that bolster my thesis and exploded some claims made in another history of the battle I am writing about.
Most cool - remember to always recharge your "healthy dose of skepticism" when dealing with primary documents.
I mainly wanted to look at the Austrian battle plans because the two prominent English accounts of the battle claim they did not really have one. I actually found an OP-Plan for fighting around Koniggratz that dates to almost two months before the war started and reflects the actual Austrian dispositions for the most part. For some reason the Austrian staff is discounted, it is almost as if the only staff that counted was the Prussian Great General Staff. The Prussians had the best staff but not the only one. There were detailed rail and march tables as well. Update I should get a couple DVD's with document scans within a week or so as the Staatsarchiv called me last week to confirm my print order. When I get it I will upload some of the documents so you guys can see what I am talking about. It is much cheaper to take the digital file to a local print shop than to have the archives do it.
Ok, I finally got the DVD with copies of all the scans I ordered while at the archives. The funny thing is that scans are easier to read than the original because the scanning rpocess has reduced some of the blled through of writing on the backside of the paper. I have attached a map and an example page from the stuff I ordered. The quality might not be so great since I had to compress them to fit the kb limit. The average file size of the scans is about a 3mb JPEG. I plan on getting some of them printed out at the local copy shop. Printout prices were prohibitively expensive at the archives. A letter size copy was about 12 Euro per page. As it is I got 88 scans for about 4.50 Euroe per scan mailed to my house on a DVD.
